Leafing through Irregular Shapes

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Alessandra King
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
School Students ◽  
Classroom Experience ◽  
Irregular Shapes ◽  
Area And Volume

By the time middle school students start a prealgebra course, they should have explored a variety of familiar two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes and should have been exposed to the concepts of perimeter, area, and volume. They know that they can assign numerical values to some attributes of a shape, such as length and surface area. However, my classroom experience confirms the statement that although “students may have developed an initial understanding of area…, many will need additional experiences in measuring directly to deepen their understanding of the area of two-dimensional shapes” (NCTM 2000, p. 242). In addition, the students' previous practice with area is usually with polygons, circles, or a combination of both. However, many real-life objects cannot be described or approximated with simple geometric shapes or with combinations of shapes. Therefore, this activity, which asks students to estimate the area of irregular shapes using finer and finer grids, is not only novel but also a way to apply mathematics to real life.

Sweet-Tooth Geometry

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 466-469
Author(s):  
Regina M. Scanlon
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
School Students ◽  
Class Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scoring Rubric ◽  
Area And Volume

Surface area and volume of prisms, pyramids, and cylinders are challenging topics for middle school students. For the past five or six years, at the end of a unit covering these topics, I have reinforced this material by doing a project that involves the construction of a “creature” by each student. The creature had to be made out of a pyramid and a prism. Later, I added a cylinder as another choice to use in making the project. I provide the students with materials (see fig. 1), a scoring rubric, and class time to work on the project.

Teacher to Teacher: Truss(t)ing Triangles

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 394-396
Author(s):  
Bobbye Hoffman Bartels
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Seventh Grade ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mathematics Class ◽  
Traditional Mathematics ◽  
Saturday Academy ◽  
School Schedule ◽  
Rigidity Characteristic

Often middle school students see no connection between geometry and real life. The following activity was designed to help make this connection for seventh-grade students participating in a Saturday academy. The activity centers on an elementary investigation of the rigidity characteristic of triangles, a concept seldom mentioned in K-8 mathematic textbooks but essential to the construction of structures that have to absorb tremendous forces and not collapse. Although this activity was completed outside the traditional mathematics class, it can be adapted to a school schedule and completed over two or more class periods.

In-Game Actions to Promote Game-Based Math Learning Engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-885
Author(s):  
Jewoong Moon ◽  
Fengfeng Ke
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Sequential Analysis ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
School Students ◽  
Learning Engagement

Game-based learning (GBL) has increasingly been used to promote students’ learning engagement. Although prior GBL studies have highlighted the significance of learning engagement as a mediator of students’ meaningful learning, the existing accounts failed to capture specific evidence of how exactly students’ in-game actions in GBL enhance learning engagement. Hence, this mixed-method study was designed to examine whether middle school students’ in-game actions are likely to promote certain types of learning engagement (i.e., content and cognitive engagement). This study used and examined the game E-Rebuild, a single-player three-dimensional architecture game that requires learners’ application of math knowledge. Using in-depth gameplay behavior analysis, this study sampled a total of 92 screen-recorded and video-captured gameplay sessions attended by 25 middle school students. We adopted two analytic approaches: sequential analysis and thematic analysis. Whereas sequential analysis explored which in-game actions by students were likely to promote each type of learning engagement, the thematic analysis depicted how certain gameplay contexts contributed to students’ enhanced learning engagement. The study found that refugee allocation and material trading actions promoted students’ content engagement, whereas using in-game building tools and learning support boosted their cognitive engagement. This study also found that students’ learning engagement was associated with their development of mathematical thinking in a GBL context.

Strategies for Helping Students Who Have Learning Disabilities in Mathematics

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcee M. Steele
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Inclusive Classrooms ◽  
Instructional Time ◽  
School Students ◽  
Classroom Experience

Most middle school students who have learning disabilities are taught mathematics in inclusive classrooms (Mastropieri and Scruggs 2000). This situation enables teachers to use teaching strategies that are designed to help students who have learning disabilities and that will improve the classroom experience for everyone. Fortunately, teachers can implement several such strategies and modifications easily, without too much additional preparation or instructional time. These ideas can help make the mathematics experiences of students who have learning disabilities and their teachers more positive and successful.

3-D Graphing, Contour Graphs, Topographical Maps, and Matrices Using Spreadsheets

1999 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-174
Author(s):  
Louis Feicht
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
First Year ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Hands On ◽  
College Calculus ◽  
Topographical Maps

Modern spreadsheets can make powerful mathematical concepts accessible to students at a younger age than ever before. Contours and three–dimensional graphing are topics that were previously reserved until well into the first year of college calculus. Three–dimensional graphing now can be successfully taught to middle school students with the assistance of a computer spreadsheet. This combination of the computer with hands-on activity exposes students to numerical and graphical representations of data on the same spreadsheet “page” and forces them to make connections between the two forms of data.

scholarly journals MENCIPTAKAN PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA YANG KREATIF DAN MENYENANGKAN

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahmi Rahmi
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Effective Teaching ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Real Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
Teacher Students ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Elementary And Middle School

The general puposes of experiencing math subject to elementary and middle school students are; first preparing the students to face the changing of real life through the thinking rehearsal based on the effective, effisien, honesty, critical, rationale, and logical way of thinking, and second, preparing the students to apply the mental principle of math in their daily life and as basic in learning other disciplines. Regarding to the importance of learning this subject, teacher of math should be able to create an effective teaching learning process to stimulate and to rise students enthusiasm in learning match. One of the strategy that can increase students desire in learning math is PAILKEM (Pembelajaran Aktif, Inovatif, Lingkungan, Kreatif, Efektif, dan Menarik). There is an interactive dialoque between teacher students and students-students, during teaching-learning process.This creates a condusive situation in wich students feel free to discuss their problems in learning math to their teachers and their classmates. At the end, through this strategy, students can increase their ability in learning and it is hoped that teaching learning process will be done in optimal achievement. 

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